JAXPORT sees trade with Asia grow

Asian container volumes at JAXPORT surged 16 percent year-over-year to 157,689 TEUs for the first six months of fiscal year 2016, which commenced Oct. 1, 2015.    JAXPORT saw Asian container volumes, comprised of both imports and exports, surge 16 percent year-over-year to 157,689 TEUs for the first six months of fiscal year 2016, which commenced Oct. 1, 2015, the port said.
   The Asian container trade accounts for 33 percent of JAXPORT’s container cargo business and is the fastest growing segment of the port’s container cargo business.
   “JAXPORT offers direct trade with Asian ports through both the Panama and Suez Canals and currently 13 of the 17 global ocean carriers serving the Asia-U.S. trade lane offer service through JAXPORT,” the port said.
   According to data from ocean carrier schedule and capacity database BlueWater Reporting’s Port Dashboard tool, of the nine fully cellular container shipping services that frequent JAXPORT, five of them connect with Asia. Of these five loops that connect to Asia, the SVS/AU3, operated by the G6 Alliance (comprised of Hapag-Lloyd, MOL, NYK, APL, HMM and OOCL) and Evergreen Line, has the largest average vessel capacity at 6,750 TEUs. The loop operates between Asia, the East Coast of North America, the Indian Subcontinent and back to Asia.
   In addition to the fully cellular services, the port is called by various other liner services that operate with pure car/truck carriers, roll-on/roll-off vessels, conro vessels, multi-purpose vessels and open hatch vessels.
   Breakbulk cargo, such as fertilizer, metals, forest products, perishables and project cargo, jumped 34 percent year-over-year for the first six months of fiscal 2016, while container volumes to and from Puerto Rico rose 10 percent, JAXPORT said.
   Looking ahead, a project to deepen the Jacksonville shipping channel to 47 feet is currently underway. In addition, a new on-dock rail facility is scheduled to open this summer, while new 100-gauge container cranes will be operational at Blount Island this fall. Ongoing upgrades to terminal berths, docks and rail are also occurring at the port.